


Buddy System

by leopardprintpants



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Kleinsen, Field Trip, First Crush, Kleinsen, M/M, Oneshot, What can I say except you're welcome, but i didn't, corn maze, hand holding, i almost put "unrequited crush" for that last tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-25 15:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12039117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leopardprintpants/pseuds/leopardprintpants
Summary: Jared, as an eight-year old, took the buddy system very seriously.But then his partner got "injured" and had to leave the corn maze with the field trip supervisor, who turned out to be Evan Hansen's buddy.So, naturally, he has to be Evan's buddy. Evan had very sweaty hands, but Jared still held onto him.The buddy system was very important.





	Buddy System

**Author's Note:**

> the end section can take place in any school year you want it to be in
> 
> enjoy!!

Jared decided corn mazes were not fun.

He had been excited just hours before, already having found a maze buddy (granted it was just because he got paired with the last kid without a partner, but still), getting new walking shoes, and getting to pick what his lunch would be. The bus ride was loud and full of eight-year-old kids singing along to songs the supervisor teacher put on. Some kids pointed at his new shoes and commented on how cool they were.

Then he'd gotten lost.

It was totally his partner's fault. The kid had managed to trip and cried about some tiny scrape on their knee, which, even to a third grader, looked pretty painless. Jared had huffed and the entire class stopped in place near a crossroads as the supervisor had to get through the maze with his overreacting buddy.

Naturally, he got bored.

So bored, in fact, that he decided to wander off to find the exit himself.

And, well. Jared found out he was distracted too often.

He'd yelled out a few times, occasionally earning a panicked response from some adult. He would be told to stay put, but then he'd be standing in the same spot for a few boring minutes and then wandering off again to find them himself. They always managed to lose each other. It was kind of frustrating and kind of scary.

Jared wasn't the type of kid to cry, but he cried. Tears streamed down his flushed cheeks as he alternated between walking and rushing through the maze, trying to find someone. The gravel on the ground gave no indication of where the class had gone, which was probably its purpose. What good was a maze when people could follow other people's footsteps to the exit?

Around fifteen or twenty minutes had passed since he'd broken off from the group and Jared was getting very impatient and very uncomfortable. The new sneakers looked fantastic, but they were a bit hard on the heel. His feet were getting sore.

He decided to find one of those benches scattered around the maze to sit down for a bit. Maybe someone would find him there.

All of the corn looked exactly the same, but it didn't take long for him to find a bench around some corner. Relief filled him for a moment before he noticed a kid sitting on the bench. His face was hidden in his knees, arms wrapped around his legs that were pulled up onto the stone bench. The kid's shoulders shook with what Jared recognized as sobs.

He wiped the tears from his face before approaching wearily, hearing quiet sniffles coming from the familiar kid. Blonde hair, striped shirt, khaki shorts, tacky shoes.

Wait. He knew those shoes. Those were loser shoes.

"Evan?" Jared asked cautiously, squinting at the student on the bench and adjusting his glasses.

Evan Hansen suddenly jolted. His head snapped up quickly, obviously shaken. Evan's face was flushed and his cheeks were glistening with tears that continued to roll down. His blue eyes were wide and filled with panic. Jared put his hands up in a surrendering pose, giving the other kid time to register the situation. He knew to be patient with Evan since they'd known each other for a while.

"J-Jared?" The blonde asked meekly, a hiccup leaving him. Jared nodded and put his hands down, approaching Evan and sitting down on the bench beside him.

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p'. "That's me. Why are you in here still? Isn't the supervisor your buddy?"

"W-Well, you saw them, right? That kid, um, I-I don't know his name, he hurt his knee?" The boy managed to look sad, concerned, scared, and relieved all at the same time.

"Oh yeah. That kid was my buddy. I guess both of our buddies ditched us for each other, huh?" Jared scoffed softly, swinging his legs over the bench. "I got bored and tried to get out on my own."

"A-And you got l-lost, too?"

"Lost? No way. I don't get lost. I'm just exploring for a while. I wanted to see if I could find anything," Jared lied easily.

"Oh. S-Sorry, I, um, am I interrupting your exploring?"

The brunet thought for a moment, adjusting his glasses again as he looked at Evan.

"Nah. I found you, so I guess I'm done exploring," he explained. Evan hiccuped again and wiped his cheeks, trying to calm down. Jared waited, letting the other boy take his time. He didn't want to rush him and freak him out, so he waited a bit before hopping off the bench. "We should get outta here, soon. We can find the exit together."

"I dunno. They always tell us to-to stay still, right? When we're... l-lost," the blonde replied, sounding unsure.

"We're not lost. Plus, that doesn't apply to mazes. C'mon, I wanna eat my lunch." He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he realized Evan probably hadn't eaten anything since the trashy school breakfast. "Good thing I have a special lunch bag, or else my Lunchables would get cold."

"I only have a p-paper bag. A-Are you sure it doesn't apply t-to mazes?" The taller boy sniffled and wiped his face a bit more with his shirt before getting off the bench, slower than Jared. He didn't seem to care much about Jared's special lunch bag. Rude.

He couldn't be annoyed at Evan, though. Oh, well.

"I dunno. Yeah. Will you be my buddy?" Jared asked, holding out his hand for one of those cool handshake things.

"You want me? A-As your buddy?" The blond asked. A bit of guilt filled Jared. He probably should've asked Evan to be his buddy before he got stuck asking the supervisor, but he was too shy.

"Yeah, of course. We have to. The buddy system is very, very serious, y'know," he said matter-of-factly. Evan looked at Jared for just a moment more before nodding rapidly and taking his hand. Rather than a cool handshake thing, he just held Jared's hand tightly. Huh. It couldn't hurt to hold hands while utterly lost, right? Buddy system. "Cool. Let's go."

Jared led a sniffling Evan through the maze, trying to hide his own panic when he realized he still had no idea where they were going. He didn't want his friend to know they were lost, even though they were, in fact, very lost.

"W-Where are we? What if--" Fear would creep into the blond's voice. "What if we're lost for forever?"

"No way. See that piece of corn? I recognize it. We're going the right way," Jared would say smoothly, pointing at the nearest random corn husk. He'd feel guilty for lying at first, but then Evan's eyes would light up in trust and hope, excited to get out of the maze.

Lying isn't bad when it makes someone happy, right?

Probably.

They walked around for a short while. Jared huffed silently as he felt Evan's hands get sweatier with every few minutes. It felt kinda uncomfortable, but he didn't want to let go of Evan's hand. The buddy system was very serious.

After what felt like an hour (Jared would later find out they were only lost for fifteen minutes), a young employee burst out of one wall of the maze. Evan yelped and hid behind Jared, who nearly tripped over him after trying to step back.

The employee seemed very relieved to see them and let the pair out of the maze with a GPS on a phone.

Neither of the boys wanted to let go of each other's hands until lunchtime, when Jared showed off his super cool lunch bag.

\----

A piece of paper nearly hit Jared in the face during his last period, biology.

It took a moment for him to realize the person in front of him was expecting him to grab it. He took it quickly. Must've been zoning out again.

"I want these forms to be turned in with a parent's signature by next week," the professor droned. "The trip is being funded, so it's free for all of you. No one should skip on this unless you have an excused absence. Before entering the corn maze, you and a partner must take notes on the agricultural lecture they'll have for us. Those notes will be your grade. Quality counts, not length."

"That's what she said!" A student in the front of the room shouted. The class burst into laughter while the professor scowled and started too reprimand the student. It took a few moments for everyone to call down.

"Everyone except you," a pointed glare at the student, "start looking for your partner."

Immediately, everyone turned to their friends or hopped out of the chairs to walk around, chatting up a storm. Jared tapped his mechanical pencil on his desk, looking around the room briefly. He took his time standing up, leaving his stuff on the desk and making his way to the blond sitting by himself.

"Hey," Jared greeted, catching his crush's attention quickly. "Will you be my buddy?"

The blond looked up at him, then glanced over to see if Jared was asking someone else.

"Ev, I'm talking to you, you doofus." He huffed out a laugh as Evan whipped his head back to him, blushing.

"O-Oh. Yeah, I'll-I'll be your buddy. Sure," he stammered, not meeting Jared's eyes as he became flustered. Jared laughed again, placing his paper on Evan's desk and taking his friend's paper to put his name on the "partner" line. His scrawl was messier than the blond's, who always made sure his handwriting was legible to everyone.

Which.

Cute.

"Cool." Jared watched Evan write his name on Jared's paper. The bell rang just as he finished, and the brunet stood up straight, taking his form. "See you later."

"Yeah. S-See you."

As he walked away, hearing Evan start to pack up his stuff behind him, Jared grinned at his paper.

Maybe he should memorize the maze and lead Evan in the wrong direction for a while. Maybe they could hold hands while getting completely lost.

Jared decided corn mazes could be fun.

**Author's Note:**

> i'd like to share that while this was a draft, i named it "corn" and actually considered leaving that as the title once i finished but then almost named it "Corn Mazes" before settling for this title which p much sums up my title creativity
> 
> anyways hope you enjoyed!! give me kleinsen ideas!! please!!
> 
> ty ty for reading :O


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